Hands-on: Garmin’s vivoactive 3 Music lets you listen to music on the go

In our initial review, one of our biggest gripes with the Garmin vivoactive 3 was that it didn’t have support for music storage. It looks like Garmin heard our request and did something about that.

Garmin today introduced the vivoactive 3 Music — a GPS running watch that allows you to store up to 500 songs and listen to them during your workout. You can either load up your own music if you have it downloaded to a computer, or download playlists from iHeartRadio if you subscribe to that service. Deezer support will be added in the future, too, though we’d certainly like to see more integrations like Spotify or Play Music.

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I wasn’t able to use iHeartRadio playlists during the testing period, but I did load up my own music from my computer. The process is much faster than Fitbit’s method to load music on the Ionic or Versa. With the Garmin vivoactive 3 Music, you simply plug the watch into your computer, sync it with Garmin Connect, and select the music you want loaded on your watch. That’s about it. Alternatively, you’ll be able to drag and drop your music files into the Windows file manager or the Android Device Manager if you use a Mac.

Once you’ve loaded up your music, you can connect and listen through a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. Music streaming from the watch is pretty seamless. Though, my music did cut out every once in awhile when paired with the Fitbit Flyer.

Aside from a slightly redesigned bezel on the new watch (and music support, of course), the vivoactive 3 and Music version are basically the same. That means you get a fantastic running watch with a built-in GPS, heart rate monitor, 5ATM water resistance rating, Garmin Pay support, and seven-day battery life. You can check out our full vivoactive 3 review right here to learn more.

The vivoactive 3 Music is available right now for $299.99. It comes with a 20mm black silicone strap, but you can purchase different accessory bands for an extra $30. Interested? Head to the link below to learn more.